Wall and roof covering



Aug. 11, 1925. 1,548,911

J. C. SHERMAN WALL AND ROOF COVERING Filed Feb. 12, 1920 fionn G, amma,

Patented Aug. 11, 1925.

STATES PATENT OFFICE.

OF PORTLAND, MAINE, ASSIGNOR T0 BROWN COMPANY, OF BERLIN, NEW HAMPSHIRE, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

WALL AND ROOF COVERING.

Application filed Februaryl2, 7-920. Serial No. 358,163.

Zo ill when), itma-g concern: Be it' knownthat I, JOHN C. SI-IEnMAN, aciti'zen'of the United States, residing at Portland. in the county of Cumberland and State of Maine, have invented new and useful"Improvements in lVall and Root Coverin'gs of which the: following is a specification. y 4

Thejsubjectmatter to which the present inventionhas reference, is a building material for outside walls, and roofs of building's, "a sheathing between timbers and clap boards, "and a finished surface for interior walls. Its'niain purpose, is to provide a material of'the nature and for the purpose indicated, which is resistant to fire and to theetfe cts of weather, and can be given an ornamental colored finished appearance by theapplication of paint, stains, varnish, and np1-flo1-0r1m1 customary wall hangings. It is especially useful, and a protection for the outer walls and roofs of wooden buildings,

as a resistantto the communication of fire to thebnil't'ling by sparks or the radiant heat,

andblasts of hot gases from neighboring fires; andisalso in one embodiment superior' to other similar materials in its resistance to weather and other disintegrating influences to be combatted in external exposure This application is, as to all common subject'maaeral'coiicinuation of my prior-application rel-"w n and roof covering, filed July 28, "1919, Serial No. 313,871.

Inthe accompanying drawings Figure 1, edge view showing one embodiment of my "device.

Figure 2 shows a slightly different embodiment.

*Figure 3 is a plan view of the construction shown in Figure 2, parts of the various layers of inateiialbeing broken away in order to show the relation of the various superimposed layers to 'each other.

Figure t'show's an application of my invention to 'awaH or ,similar supporting structure, v.

"Ilwillrefer' now tothe drawings in detail, reference" characters designating the same partsthroughout.

The basis of this covering material and the partto' which its fire resisting qualities are largely due, is a layer or sheet of ashestos paper at, This layer is adhesively secured-"or doubled to a backing layer b to se cure strength and durability. This backing layer is preferably paper of a strong. and

tough grade, such as the impregnated sheathing paper already known and used in the construction of wooden buildings. I may use any standard make of such sheathing, for instance, that which is made of tough wood fibre and sized with resin, and again I may use in place of the sheathing-paper, a backing of heavy material, such as wallbcard and the like, well known to builders, wlnch 1s a paper product in so many plies or layers or otherwise made so stifi' that itwill stand alone and unsupported. In this form it may be applied to the wall timbers in place of boards or in place of laths and plaster.

For the purpose of adhesively uniting the layers a and b, I may use bitumen or silicate of soda, or an equivalent cement or glue, the nature of which is sufiiciently indicated by the known characteristics of the substances specifically named.

On the opposite side of the layer of asbestos a is placed and adhesively secured, a surfacing or facing sheet 0 preferably made of a sheet of wood veneering of extreme thlnness. Such veneering mayeonsist of sheets so thin as one one-hundredth of an 1110b and while this would be too thin to be of practical use in some situations, I find that by uniting two or more of such veneers, the grains of which run at any angles, preferably at right angles to each other, by means of an adhesive, such as a blood glue or casein glue, they can be rendered suitable for any use.

lVhile it is preferable to have the grains of veneers thus united, run at right angles to each other it is obvious that they might be made to run at any other angle and the strips may be united with the grains running in parallelism to each other. It is also obvious that a single ply of veneer may under some circumstances be used. In this case and in the case of two or more veneers united with their grains in parallelism, my

material may be produced in continuous the standpoint of convenience of manufacture and is useful in some varieties of buildlngs, that form 1n which the veneer face is made of two or more plies placed wlth their glue between the veneering strips forming the same is preferably applied by first saturating with it, a sheet of tissue paper designated on the drawings by the letter f of Figure 2, which is then inserted between the two veneers and the whole pressed in a hot press, as described above, or the like, which causes them to adhere and form a compact structure.

When blood glue is used in this connection the tissue paper is dipped into the glue and the glue allowed to dry thereon, it is then placed between the strips of veneer and when placed in the hot press as above described,

the glue softens as a result of the heat and units the strips of veneer together. The advantage in the use of blood glue is that, when pressed hot, as described above, it coagulates 1n such a way that after being so treated, it will not be affected by attack of heat or moisture further eliminating any tendency to warp or split.

As equivalent material may be made with the use of a relatively thin paper sheet or any cellulose or equivalent material as the facing layer, instead of the veneer facing, as above described; as disclosed in my prior application, Serial No. 313,871, dated July 28, 1919.

The surfacing material either of veneer or paper is placed and adhesively secured to the asbestos layer by means of preferably a waterproof glue, a film of which is indicated in Figure 1, and is designated by the letter 6. The water proof glue, which I prefer to use, is a substance which has been developed at the Forest Products Laboratory, conducted by the United States Government at Madison, Wisconsin, and is made of casein, lime and silicate of soda, with water, more or less closely according to the following formula.

100 parts casein. 130-280 parts water 15-20 parts hydrated powdered lime 90 parts water parts silicate of soda soak l5 minutcs.....

waterproof, roof and wall covering. I have found that this particular glue is both waterproof and fire resisting and that combustible materials upon which it has been spread will not freely burn. Other waterproof glue may however, be used for this purpose; and within the definition of waterproof glue, I include the well known admixture of linseed oil and hydrated lime and all equivalents thereof; and I may indeed use an adhesive which is not entirely waterproof, such as silicate of soda alone and depend upon an external coating of waterproof paint or oil upon the outer layer a to give weatherproofing qualities.

For the purpose of distinctively designating the parts of this structure, I may designate the asbestos sheet or layer a as the body layer or the non-combustible layer; the sheet or layer 1) as the backing or strengthening layer; and the sheet 0 as the surface or face layer. I may also refer to the surface layer, when made up of veneering as the veneer or the two ply veneer, as the case may be, and to the inner and outer layers a and 0' of veneer as the inner veneer and the outer veneer respectively, or as the inner ply and the outer ply.

I do not restrict myself to any specific material or form thereof to be used as a surface or facing layer, for, it is obvious that I may use any form of veneer such as mentioned above. I may make up a facing of a thin sheet of paper with a veneer adhesively attached thereto, I may use a veneer of California redwood with paper or with a thin film of veneer of any other wood; I may use a thin sheet of paper alone, or any other combination of materials suitable for the purpose. It is desirable in any of these forms of surfacing material to combine as far as practicable the qualities of strength and thinness, in order to reduce the fire hazard, and for this reason the surfacing should be as thin as possible to be consistent with durability. It should also be sufiiciently absorbent to be impregnated somewhat by waterproof glue and thus be made resistant to penetration by water. As a paper facing, I have found the well known kraft paper satisfactory for these purposes.

The function served by the body layer of asbestos is, of course, to check the spread of fire, as asbestos is notoriously non-combustible; that of the backing layer to give strength to the sheathing, since asbestos paper has not of itself suflicient strength for use as a sheathing material; and that of the face layer is partly to give strength, and in some instances as indicated above, to add fire resisting qualities, but mainly to protect the asbestos paper from the effects of weather. It does this by holding the fibers of the asbestos paper from being disintegrated by the mechanical action of the wind, rain and the like, and is itself, in case of the use of paper, prevented by the waterproof glue from being turned into a pulp and washed away by rain. In addition, it has the further function of furnishing a smooth surface which may be painted, or, towhich wall paper or the like, may be hung to give an ornamental finish; and in case of the use of wood-veneer it may be a hardwood finish, painted or varnished as desired, and has the further advantage that it has greater resistive qualities when exposed to the weather, and may be used for a more permanent type of weather resisting surface as for outside walls and roofs of houses, and the like, than that for which a material with a paper surfacing could be used. The paint used is waterproof and adds to the weather resisting qualities.

When attacked by fire, the facing layer, of paper or ordinary wood-veneer, with its coating of paint or the like, if any, may be burned away, but the asbestos body will be left intact to prevent spread of flame to a wall back of it. By the use of red-wood, as indicated above the facing may also be made fire resisting and this is an important feature, inasmuch as it holds the asbestos in place and prevents its disintegrating, under the influence of wind, water, and the like; it will also readily appear that this has the further advantage that, a fire having occurred, the composite sheathing material will not have had its usefulness destroyed, by having one of its surfaces burned off, as in the case of a material having a non-fireresisting surface. However, while the use of red-wood veneer greatly increases the fire resisting qualities of my material and retards the initial spread of fire, and limits fire to a locality more closely to that of its origination than in cases where a more combustible material is used as a facing, the use of this fire resisting wood is not essential to the invention as the material with any other facing, such as named above, offers adequate resistance to fire since the entire mass of combustible material used as a facing on a given area (having thickness of not more than a fortieth of an inch in my preferred form) is so small that if it does burn, it will burn off quickly and not create of itself a fire-hazard of any serious moment.

The asbestos paper, however, by reason of the protection, from the weather, given it by the face layer, is preserved intact for an indefinite number of years, in condition to prevent spread of fire. The covering will protect a wooden wall from fire up to a temperature high enough to cause softening of a steel column, or that at which terra cotta will disintegrate upon impact of a stream of water.

A feature of the sheathing is that a dead air pocket is formed back of the asbestos body layer and between'it and. the backing layer immediately behind a point,,where the heat impinges on the outer surface; this pocket is formed by the volatilization under the influence of heat of the bituminous or.v

covers and these dead air spaces serve to delay further the spread of the flames.

Another feature of my sheathing is that by the use of a substantial backing such as sheathing, wall-board, and the like, a very thin layer of asbestos may be used it being only necessary to be thick enough to render the required resistance to heat and flame. This with the protecting facing gives a product that may be manufactured at a comparatively small expense.

Any asbestos fabric fitted for wall coverings is so loosely matted and porous that it disintegrates and blows away under the action of weather; and on account of the same qualities, and likewise its rough surface, it cannot practically be painted. Therefore, it has not been desirable prior to my invention, to use asbestos as a fire-resisting-wall-covering in any situation, where it is exposed to the weather or mechanical abrasion. But my invention has made it practicable to use asbestos for these purposes and has thus made available for buildings of inexpensive construct-ion, a fireproofing equal to all intents and purposes to that afforded by more elaborate and expensive forms of construction, and one moreover which can be given such an ornamental finish as painting or natural wood finish affords. When made with a face surfacing of kraft paper, suitable for the face layer of my new material or fabric, the material hasso much power of resistance to wear that the fabric when painted, is usable as on outer covering for roofs which may be walked upon, and when a facing of veneer is used, a very durable substance is obtained, capable of standing agreat amount of weather and abuse.

In use, my material may be tacked or otherwise secured to the wall studding or framework of the building to which it is applied, and the seams or lines of contact of the adjacent rolls or panels of the material may be protected, if desired by means of strips of metal or by thin battens of heavy asbestos paper, or the material may be so arranged as to protect its own seams by first applying a roll or panel of material in its proper position, and then applying the adjacent roll or panel inside out on top of it, and fastening along the edge of the first roll or panel and then turning the second roll or panel to its normal face-outwardly position. By this means all of the seams may be protected by material which upon the combustion of theouter surface will expose an uninterrupted area of fireproof material.

Having thus explained the nature of my said invention and described a way of making and using the same, although without attempting to set forth all of the forms 1n which it may be made or all of the'modes of its use, what I claim is:

1. As an article of manufacture wall covering, comprising a layer of asbestos paper and a surfacing of Wood veneer adhesively united thereto by means of a layer of waterproof material between said layer and surfacing.

2. As an article of manufacture wall and roof covering or sheathing, consisting of a layer made of asbestos fiber paper as a body, a layer of thin wood veneer adhesively secured to the outer surface of the asbestos layer, and a coat of paint on said veneer.

3. A Wall or roof covering, comprising a body sheet of asbestos paper, a backing of tough material and a wood veneer facing adhesively united thereto by means of waterproof material whereby the covering is possessed of great weather resisting qualities.

4. A wall. or roof covering, comprising a layer of asbestos paper and a hardwood veneer adhesively united thereto, said veneer consisting of a plurality of plies adhesively secured together with their grains crossing.

5. A wall or roof covering, comprising a backing of tough material, a body of ashestos paper adhesively united thereto, a face layer of fire-resisting-wood, adhesively united to said body by means of a film of waterproof glue placed therebetween.

6. A wall or roof covering consisting of a body layer of asbestos paper and an outer surface consisting of plies of Wood veneer adhesively secured to said body layer and a sheet of absorbent fibrous tissue impregnated with adhesive interposed between said plies and adhesively attached thereto.

In testimony whereof I have atlixed my signature.

JOHN C. SHERMAN. 

